CHAPTER XXIVState and Church—Ignaz von Döllinger—Ludwig’s Letters to his old TutorOne Christmas night in the seventies, Ludwig II. was present with the Queen-mother and the royal Princes at the midnight Mass in the court church at Munich. In the midst of the service he laid his prayer-book aside. He threw himself on his knees, hid his face, and sobbed aloud. His mother regarded him anxiously, and called her brother-in-law, Prince Luitpold, who was sitting in the box next to them. The King rose to his feet and hid his head on her breast; and she and his uncle conducted him to his rooms.A few days previously an execution had taken place, which had made a deep impression on him. A Neapolitan youth, twenty years of age, who had committed a murder in his country, had been condemned to death. The unhappy parents had sent a heartrending appeal to the young King, who had wished to reprieve him; but his Ministers had opposed his intention.In his later years, Ludwig seldom attended divine service in Munich; but during his residences at Berg, he went regularly to a littlechurch which had been built in the park there. At the castle of Neuschwanstein there was an altar and aprie-dieuin his sleeping apartment. He was in the habit of hearing Mass in the neighbouring chapel; and no person was refused admittance because the King was praying in it. When he visited the small village churches in the highlands, he would often kneel unknown amid those at prayer. At Ober-Ammergau he was so affected by the passion plays, that he caused a magnificent marble group of the Crucifixion to be erected in that town. Once when driving he met a priest carrying the sacrament; he alighted, knelt upon the highroad and prayed. He was God-fearing, but very tolerant; and he hated confessional dissensions.In affairs of state he preserved a quiet and certain view, not the less so where ecclesiastical matters were concerned; but the relations between the Papal power and his Government were anything but peaceful. Ludwig had a modern conception of the Church’s relation to the State; he desired that the schools should be freed from the yoke of the Church. The reforms of the Government in this domain became the source of violent skirmishes.The Catholic Church party, which adorned itself with the often misused name of “National,” worked up a strong feeling against him and his Ministers. In reality, this partywas less national than the other; for the Catholic Church is international in its principle and in its entire organisation, the threads being collected in Rome from the Catholic communities in all parts of the world! Nor was there unity among the Catholic clergy themselves. One of the heads of the Church in Bavaria at that time was Ignaz von Döllinger. He had been Ludwig’s teacher, and one of the few whom Ludwig in his youth had really cared about. The Dean was among the most learned theologians of the last century. He had in 1863 published a book, “Pabstfabeln des Mittelalters,” which had brought him into bad odour with the Romishcuria. In spite of threats from Rome he quietly continued the way which his truth-loving spirit and his scientificresearchespointed out to him. In 1864 Pius IX. had issued the so-called “Syllabus,” in which he vindicated and defined the mediæval conception of the Church’s supremacy over the State. The Pope meant by his action to prepare for the dogma of his Infallibility. Döllinger made this the object of scathing criticism. His writings did not indeed influence the unenlightened masses, who received the Holy Father’s message with blind obedience, but within scientific circles in the Catholic world the Dean’s utterances made a deep impression. Munich became the centre of the opposition, and Döllinger, as a matter of course, became its leader.The suppressed embitterment of which he had long been the object at Rome was now transformed into open and violent persecution. During these struggles King Ludwig held his protecting hand over his old teacher,1and sent him the following letter:—“My dear Dean von Döllinger,“I intended to have called upon you to-day, but, unfortunately I am hindered by indisposition from carrying out my purpose, and expressing my very heartiest wishes for your happiness and blessing on the occasion of your birthday.“I therefore send you my congratulations in this manner.“I hope that God may grant you still many years of unimpaired intellect and health, so that you may lead to a victorious end the struggle which you began for the honour of religion and science, for the welfare of the Church and the State.“Do not weary in this so serious and important combat! May you ever be upheld by the consciousness that millions look up to you with confidence as the champion and pillar of truth, and who abandon themselves to the certain hope that you and your undaunted fellow-fighters will put the Jesuitical intrigues to shameand shed the light of victory over human malice and darkness.“May God grant it, and I pray it of Him with my whole soul!“Renewing my most sincere and affectionate wishes for your happiness and welfare, I send you, my dear Dean von Döllinger, my kindest regards, and remain, with good-will and unshakable confidence, always“Your greatly attached King,“Ludwig.“February 28th, 1870.”On the 18th of July the same year Pius IX. announced his dogma of Infallibility. A few weeks afterwards the thunderbolt of excommunication struck Ignaz von Döllinger. It is greatly to King Ludwig’s honour that he still continued to support him. On the 28th of February, 1871, he sent him a letter in which, among other things, he says:“My dear Dean and Councillor of State,Dr von Döllinger,“I cannot let your birthday to-day go by without sending you my best and most affectionate congratulations—giving you a sign of my particular vigilance. My country and myself are proud of being able to call you ours. And I am glad to dare believe that you, as the ornament of science, and in your tried attachment to the Throne, may yet for long, as hitherto,continue your activity for the good of the State and Church.“I need hardly emphasise how heartily glad I am at your firm attitude in the Infallibility question. Very painful is it to me, on the other hand, that Abbé Haneberg has submitted in spite of his convictions. I daresay he has done it out of ‘humility,’ In my opinion, it is a very perverted humility when a person officially gives way and bears outwardly a different opinion from that he has in his heart.“I rejoice that I have not been disappointed in you. I have always said that you are my Bossuet; he, on the other hand, is my Fénélon.... I am proud of you, true rock of the Church! With assurances, my dear Mr Dean, of my continued good-will, I remain, with my kindest regards,“Your greatly attached King,“Ludwig.”The King later was in the habit of asking Döllinger for information regarding religious works, and several times sent messengers to him to require his explanation of certain passages.Johannes von Lutz, the son of a village schoolmaster, but early well known as a prominent lawyer, had become Prince Hohenlohe’s successor as Premier. He also was persecuted by the Catholic Church party. Ludwig ennobled him, creating him a baron, and always protectedhim. When the majority of the Parliament opposed the Government in 1883, he sent him the following characteristic autograph letter:—“My dear Minister von Lutz,“I have with regret followed the obstructions which have been placed, during the last few months, in the way of my Ministers, whose labours, as I know, are only dictated by their solicitude for the welfare of their country. I feel myself called upon to express to you that it is my firm expectation that you and your colleagues, who have been summoned by me to be the counsellors of the Crown, will hold out firmly in the future, and with all your strength champion my rights.“With particular regard to the Church’s relation to the State, I have ever, and with the most affectionate conviction, yielded the Church my protection, and I shall never cease to protect the religious necessities of my people, which I consider as the foundation of order.“But I am equally decided that my Government now and in the future must resist all attempts to undermine the undoubted rights of the State, which will bring State and Church into a fatal position.“While giving repeated expression herewith of this my will, I assure you and your colleagues of my warm recognition of your faithful resistance under difficult circumstances.”1Ludwig’s trusted Minister, Prince Hohenlohe, also regarded it as a duty to step in against the dogma of Papal Infallibility, inviting in a circular all the German Governments to protest against it. They did not, however, agree to his proposal.↑
CHAPTER XXIVState and Church—Ignaz von Döllinger—Ludwig’s Letters to his old TutorOne Christmas night in the seventies, Ludwig II. was present with the Queen-mother and the royal Princes at the midnight Mass in the court church at Munich. In the midst of the service he laid his prayer-book aside. He threw himself on his knees, hid his face, and sobbed aloud. His mother regarded him anxiously, and called her brother-in-law, Prince Luitpold, who was sitting in the box next to them. The King rose to his feet and hid his head on her breast; and she and his uncle conducted him to his rooms.A few days previously an execution had taken place, which had made a deep impression on him. A Neapolitan youth, twenty years of age, who had committed a murder in his country, had been condemned to death. The unhappy parents had sent a heartrending appeal to the young King, who had wished to reprieve him; but his Ministers had opposed his intention.In his later years, Ludwig seldom attended divine service in Munich; but during his residences at Berg, he went regularly to a littlechurch which had been built in the park there. At the castle of Neuschwanstein there was an altar and aprie-dieuin his sleeping apartment. He was in the habit of hearing Mass in the neighbouring chapel; and no person was refused admittance because the King was praying in it. When he visited the small village churches in the highlands, he would often kneel unknown amid those at prayer. At Ober-Ammergau he was so affected by the passion plays, that he caused a magnificent marble group of the Crucifixion to be erected in that town. Once when driving he met a priest carrying the sacrament; he alighted, knelt upon the highroad and prayed. He was God-fearing, but very tolerant; and he hated confessional dissensions.In affairs of state he preserved a quiet and certain view, not the less so where ecclesiastical matters were concerned; but the relations between the Papal power and his Government were anything but peaceful. Ludwig had a modern conception of the Church’s relation to the State; he desired that the schools should be freed from the yoke of the Church. The reforms of the Government in this domain became the source of violent skirmishes.The Catholic Church party, which adorned itself with the often misused name of “National,” worked up a strong feeling against him and his Ministers. In reality, this partywas less national than the other; for the Catholic Church is international in its principle and in its entire organisation, the threads being collected in Rome from the Catholic communities in all parts of the world! Nor was there unity among the Catholic clergy themselves. One of the heads of the Church in Bavaria at that time was Ignaz von Döllinger. He had been Ludwig’s teacher, and one of the few whom Ludwig in his youth had really cared about. The Dean was among the most learned theologians of the last century. He had in 1863 published a book, “Pabstfabeln des Mittelalters,” which had brought him into bad odour with the Romishcuria. In spite of threats from Rome he quietly continued the way which his truth-loving spirit and his scientificresearchespointed out to him. In 1864 Pius IX. had issued the so-called “Syllabus,” in which he vindicated and defined the mediæval conception of the Church’s supremacy over the State. The Pope meant by his action to prepare for the dogma of his Infallibility. Döllinger made this the object of scathing criticism. His writings did not indeed influence the unenlightened masses, who received the Holy Father’s message with blind obedience, but within scientific circles in the Catholic world the Dean’s utterances made a deep impression. Munich became the centre of the opposition, and Döllinger, as a matter of course, became its leader.The suppressed embitterment of which he had long been the object at Rome was now transformed into open and violent persecution. During these struggles King Ludwig held his protecting hand over his old teacher,1and sent him the following letter:—“My dear Dean von Döllinger,“I intended to have called upon you to-day, but, unfortunately I am hindered by indisposition from carrying out my purpose, and expressing my very heartiest wishes for your happiness and blessing on the occasion of your birthday.“I therefore send you my congratulations in this manner.“I hope that God may grant you still many years of unimpaired intellect and health, so that you may lead to a victorious end the struggle which you began for the honour of religion and science, for the welfare of the Church and the State.“Do not weary in this so serious and important combat! May you ever be upheld by the consciousness that millions look up to you with confidence as the champion and pillar of truth, and who abandon themselves to the certain hope that you and your undaunted fellow-fighters will put the Jesuitical intrigues to shameand shed the light of victory over human malice and darkness.“May God grant it, and I pray it of Him with my whole soul!“Renewing my most sincere and affectionate wishes for your happiness and welfare, I send you, my dear Dean von Döllinger, my kindest regards, and remain, with good-will and unshakable confidence, always“Your greatly attached King,“Ludwig.“February 28th, 1870.”On the 18th of July the same year Pius IX. announced his dogma of Infallibility. A few weeks afterwards the thunderbolt of excommunication struck Ignaz von Döllinger. It is greatly to King Ludwig’s honour that he still continued to support him. On the 28th of February, 1871, he sent him a letter in which, among other things, he says:“My dear Dean and Councillor of State,Dr von Döllinger,“I cannot let your birthday to-day go by without sending you my best and most affectionate congratulations—giving you a sign of my particular vigilance. My country and myself are proud of being able to call you ours. And I am glad to dare believe that you, as the ornament of science, and in your tried attachment to the Throne, may yet for long, as hitherto,continue your activity for the good of the State and Church.“I need hardly emphasise how heartily glad I am at your firm attitude in the Infallibility question. Very painful is it to me, on the other hand, that Abbé Haneberg has submitted in spite of his convictions. I daresay he has done it out of ‘humility,’ In my opinion, it is a very perverted humility when a person officially gives way and bears outwardly a different opinion from that he has in his heart.“I rejoice that I have not been disappointed in you. I have always said that you are my Bossuet; he, on the other hand, is my Fénélon.... I am proud of you, true rock of the Church! With assurances, my dear Mr Dean, of my continued good-will, I remain, with my kindest regards,“Your greatly attached King,“Ludwig.”The King later was in the habit of asking Döllinger for information regarding religious works, and several times sent messengers to him to require his explanation of certain passages.Johannes von Lutz, the son of a village schoolmaster, but early well known as a prominent lawyer, had become Prince Hohenlohe’s successor as Premier. He also was persecuted by the Catholic Church party. Ludwig ennobled him, creating him a baron, and always protectedhim. When the majority of the Parliament opposed the Government in 1883, he sent him the following characteristic autograph letter:—“My dear Minister von Lutz,“I have with regret followed the obstructions which have been placed, during the last few months, in the way of my Ministers, whose labours, as I know, are only dictated by their solicitude for the welfare of their country. I feel myself called upon to express to you that it is my firm expectation that you and your colleagues, who have been summoned by me to be the counsellors of the Crown, will hold out firmly in the future, and with all your strength champion my rights.“With particular regard to the Church’s relation to the State, I have ever, and with the most affectionate conviction, yielded the Church my protection, and I shall never cease to protect the religious necessities of my people, which I consider as the foundation of order.“But I am equally decided that my Government now and in the future must resist all attempts to undermine the undoubted rights of the State, which will bring State and Church into a fatal position.“While giving repeated expression herewith of this my will, I assure you and your colleagues of my warm recognition of your faithful resistance under difficult circumstances.”1Ludwig’s trusted Minister, Prince Hohenlohe, also regarded it as a duty to step in against the dogma of Papal Infallibility, inviting in a circular all the German Governments to protest against it. They did not, however, agree to his proposal.↑
CHAPTER XXIVState and Church—Ignaz von Döllinger—Ludwig’s Letters to his old Tutor
One Christmas night in the seventies, Ludwig II. was present with the Queen-mother and the royal Princes at the midnight Mass in the court church at Munich. In the midst of the service he laid his prayer-book aside. He threw himself on his knees, hid his face, and sobbed aloud. His mother regarded him anxiously, and called her brother-in-law, Prince Luitpold, who was sitting in the box next to them. The King rose to his feet and hid his head on her breast; and she and his uncle conducted him to his rooms.A few days previously an execution had taken place, which had made a deep impression on him. A Neapolitan youth, twenty years of age, who had committed a murder in his country, had been condemned to death. The unhappy parents had sent a heartrending appeal to the young King, who had wished to reprieve him; but his Ministers had opposed his intention.In his later years, Ludwig seldom attended divine service in Munich; but during his residences at Berg, he went regularly to a littlechurch which had been built in the park there. At the castle of Neuschwanstein there was an altar and aprie-dieuin his sleeping apartment. He was in the habit of hearing Mass in the neighbouring chapel; and no person was refused admittance because the King was praying in it. When he visited the small village churches in the highlands, he would often kneel unknown amid those at prayer. At Ober-Ammergau he was so affected by the passion plays, that he caused a magnificent marble group of the Crucifixion to be erected in that town. Once when driving he met a priest carrying the sacrament; he alighted, knelt upon the highroad and prayed. He was God-fearing, but very tolerant; and he hated confessional dissensions.In affairs of state he preserved a quiet and certain view, not the less so where ecclesiastical matters were concerned; but the relations between the Papal power and his Government were anything but peaceful. Ludwig had a modern conception of the Church’s relation to the State; he desired that the schools should be freed from the yoke of the Church. The reforms of the Government in this domain became the source of violent skirmishes.The Catholic Church party, which adorned itself with the often misused name of “National,” worked up a strong feeling against him and his Ministers. In reality, this partywas less national than the other; for the Catholic Church is international in its principle and in its entire organisation, the threads being collected in Rome from the Catholic communities in all parts of the world! Nor was there unity among the Catholic clergy themselves. One of the heads of the Church in Bavaria at that time was Ignaz von Döllinger. He had been Ludwig’s teacher, and one of the few whom Ludwig in his youth had really cared about. The Dean was among the most learned theologians of the last century. He had in 1863 published a book, “Pabstfabeln des Mittelalters,” which had brought him into bad odour with the Romishcuria. In spite of threats from Rome he quietly continued the way which his truth-loving spirit and his scientificresearchespointed out to him. In 1864 Pius IX. had issued the so-called “Syllabus,” in which he vindicated and defined the mediæval conception of the Church’s supremacy over the State. The Pope meant by his action to prepare for the dogma of his Infallibility. Döllinger made this the object of scathing criticism. His writings did not indeed influence the unenlightened masses, who received the Holy Father’s message with blind obedience, but within scientific circles in the Catholic world the Dean’s utterances made a deep impression. Munich became the centre of the opposition, and Döllinger, as a matter of course, became its leader.The suppressed embitterment of which he had long been the object at Rome was now transformed into open and violent persecution. During these struggles King Ludwig held his protecting hand over his old teacher,1and sent him the following letter:—“My dear Dean von Döllinger,“I intended to have called upon you to-day, but, unfortunately I am hindered by indisposition from carrying out my purpose, and expressing my very heartiest wishes for your happiness and blessing on the occasion of your birthday.“I therefore send you my congratulations in this manner.“I hope that God may grant you still many years of unimpaired intellect and health, so that you may lead to a victorious end the struggle which you began for the honour of religion and science, for the welfare of the Church and the State.“Do not weary in this so serious and important combat! May you ever be upheld by the consciousness that millions look up to you with confidence as the champion and pillar of truth, and who abandon themselves to the certain hope that you and your undaunted fellow-fighters will put the Jesuitical intrigues to shameand shed the light of victory over human malice and darkness.“May God grant it, and I pray it of Him with my whole soul!“Renewing my most sincere and affectionate wishes for your happiness and welfare, I send you, my dear Dean von Döllinger, my kindest regards, and remain, with good-will and unshakable confidence, always“Your greatly attached King,“Ludwig.“February 28th, 1870.”On the 18th of July the same year Pius IX. announced his dogma of Infallibility. A few weeks afterwards the thunderbolt of excommunication struck Ignaz von Döllinger. It is greatly to King Ludwig’s honour that he still continued to support him. On the 28th of February, 1871, he sent him a letter in which, among other things, he says:“My dear Dean and Councillor of State,Dr von Döllinger,“I cannot let your birthday to-day go by without sending you my best and most affectionate congratulations—giving you a sign of my particular vigilance. My country and myself are proud of being able to call you ours. And I am glad to dare believe that you, as the ornament of science, and in your tried attachment to the Throne, may yet for long, as hitherto,continue your activity for the good of the State and Church.“I need hardly emphasise how heartily glad I am at your firm attitude in the Infallibility question. Very painful is it to me, on the other hand, that Abbé Haneberg has submitted in spite of his convictions. I daresay he has done it out of ‘humility,’ In my opinion, it is a very perverted humility when a person officially gives way and bears outwardly a different opinion from that he has in his heart.“I rejoice that I have not been disappointed in you. I have always said that you are my Bossuet; he, on the other hand, is my Fénélon.... I am proud of you, true rock of the Church! With assurances, my dear Mr Dean, of my continued good-will, I remain, with my kindest regards,“Your greatly attached King,“Ludwig.”The King later was in the habit of asking Döllinger for information regarding religious works, and several times sent messengers to him to require his explanation of certain passages.Johannes von Lutz, the son of a village schoolmaster, but early well known as a prominent lawyer, had become Prince Hohenlohe’s successor as Premier. He also was persecuted by the Catholic Church party. Ludwig ennobled him, creating him a baron, and always protectedhim. When the majority of the Parliament opposed the Government in 1883, he sent him the following characteristic autograph letter:—“My dear Minister von Lutz,“I have with regret followed the obstructions which have been placed, during the last few months, in the way of my Ministers, whose labours, as I know, are only dictated by their solicitude for the welfare of their country. I feel myself called upon to express to you that it is my firm expectation that you and your colleagues, who have been summoned by me to be the counsellors of the Crown, will hold out firmly in the future, and with all your strength champion my rights.“With particular regard to the Church’s relation to the State, I have ever, and with the most affectionate conviction, yielded the Church my protection, and I shall never cease to protect the religious necessities of my people, which I consider as the foundation of order.“But I am equally decided that my Government now and in the future must resist all attempts to undermine the undoubted rights of the State, which will bring State and Church into a fatal position.“While giving repeated expression herewith of this my will, I assure you and your colleagues of my warm recognition of your faithful resistance under difficult circumstances.”
One Christmas night in the seventies, Ludwig II. was present with the Queen-mother and the royal Princes at the midnight Mass in the court church at Munich. In the midst of the service he laid his prayer-book aside. He threw himself on his knees, hid his face, and sobbed aloud. His mother regarded him anxiously, and called her brother-in-law, Prince Luitpold, who was sitting in the box next to them. The King rose to his feet and hid his head on her breast; and she and his uncle conducted him to his rooms.
A few days previously an execution had taken place, which had made a deep impression on him. A Neapolitan youth, twenty years of age, who had committed a murder in his country, had been condemned to death. The unhappy parents had sent a heartrending appeal to the young King, who had wished to reprieve him; but his Ministers had opposed his intention.
In his later years, Ludwig seldom attended divine service in Munich; but during his residences at Berg, he went regularly to a littlechurch which had been built in the park there. At the castle of Neuschwanstein there was an altar and aprie-dieuin his sleeping apartment. He was in the habit of hearing Mass in the neighbouring chapel; and no person was refused admittance because the King was praying in it. When he visited the small village churches in the highlands, he would often kneel unknown amid those at prayer. At Ober-Ammergau he was so affected by the passion plays, that he caused a magnificent marble group of the Crucifixion to be erected in that town. Once when driving he met a priest carrying the sacrament; he alighted, knelt upon the highroad and prayed. He was God-fearing, but very tolerant; and he hated confessional dissensions.
In affairs of state he preserved a quiet and certain view, not the less so where ecclesiastical matters were concerned; but the relations between the Papal power and his Government were anything but peaceful. Ludwig had a modern conception of the Church’s relation to the State; he desired that the schools should be freed from the yoke of the Church. The reforms of the Government in this domain became the source of violent skirmishes.
The Catholic Church party, which adorned itself with the often misused name of “National,” worked up a strong feeling against him and his Ministers. In reality, this partywas less national than the other; for the Catholic Church is international in its principle and in its entire organisation, the threads being collected in Rome from the Catholic communities in all parts of the world! Nor was there unity among the Catholic clergy themselves. One of the heads of the Church in Bavaria at that time was Ignaz von Döllinger. He had been Ludwig’s teacher, and one of the few whom Ludwig in his youth had really cared about. The Dean was among the most learned theologians of the last century. He had in 1863 published a book, “Pabstfabeln des Mittelalters,” which had brought him into bad odour with the Romishcuria. In spite of threats from Rome he quietly continued the way which his truth-loving spirit and his scientificresearchespointed out to him. In 1864 Pius IX. had issued the so-called “Syllabus,” in which he vindicated and defined the mediæval conception of the Church’s supremacy over the State. The Pope meant by his action to prepare for the dogma of his Infallibility. Döllinger made this the object of scathing criticism. His writings did not indeed influence the unenlightened masses, who received the Holy Father’s message with blind obedience, but within scientific circles in the Catholic world the Dean’s utterances made a deep impression. Munich became the centre of the opposition, and Döllinger, as a matter of course, became its leader.
The suppressed embitterment of which he had long been the object at Rome was now transformed into open and violent persecution. During these struggles King Ludwig held his protecting hand over his old teacher,1and sent him the following letter:—
“My dear Dean von Döllinger,“I intended to have called upon you to-day, but, unfortunately I am hindered by indisposition from carrying out my purpose, and expressing my very heartiest wishes for your happiness and blessing on the occasion of your birthday.“I therefore send you my congratulations in this manner.“I hope that God may grant you still many years of unimpaired intellect and health, so that you may lead to a victorious end the struggle which you began for the honour of religion and science, for the welfare of the Church and the State.“Do not weary in this so serious and important combat! May you ever be upheld by the consciousness that millions look up to you with confidence as the champion and pillar of truth, and who abandon themselves to the certain hope that you and your undaunted fellow-fighters will put the Jesuitical intrigues to shameand shed the light of victory over human malice and darkness.“May God grant it, and I pray it of Him with my whole soul!“Renewing my most sincere and affectionate wishes for your happiness and welfare, I send you, my dear Dean von Döllinger, my kindest regards, and remain, with good-will and unshakable confidence, always“Your greatly attached King,“Ludwig.“February 28th, 1870.”
“My dear Dean von Döllinger,
“I intended to have called upon you to-day, but, unfortunately I am hindered by indisposition from carrying out my purpose, and expressing my very heartiest wishes for your happiness and blessing on the occasion of your birthday.
“I therefore send you my congratulations in this manner.
“I hope that God may grant you still many years of unimpaired intellect and health, so that you may lead to a victorious end the struggle which you began for the honour of religion and science, for the welfare of the Church and the State.
“Do not weary in this so serious and important combat! May you ever be upheld by the consciousness that millions look up to you with confidence as the champion and pillar of truth, and who abandon themselves to the certain hope that you and your undaunted fellow-fighters will put the Jesuitical intrigues to shameand shed the light of victory over human malice and darkness.
“May God grant it, and I pray it of Him with my whole soul!
“Renewing my most sincere and affectionate wishes for your happiness and welfare, I send you, my dear Dean von Döllinger, my kindest regards, and remain, with good-will and unshakable confidence, always
“Your greatly attached King,
“Ludwig.
“February 28th, 1870.”
On the 18th of July the same year Pius IX. announced his dogma of Infallibility. A few weeks afterwards the thunderbolt of excommunication struck Ignaz von Döllinger. It is greatly to King Ludwig’s honour that he still continued to support him. On the 28th of February, 1871, he sent him a letter in which, among other things, he says:
“My dear Dean and Councillor of State,Dr von Döllinger,“I cannot let your birthday to-day go by without sending you my best and most affectionate congratulations—giving you a sign of my particular vigilance. My country and myself are proud of being able to call you ours. And I am glad to dare believe that you, as the ornament of science, and in your tried attachment to the Throne, may yet for long, as hitherto,continue your activity for the good of the State and Church.“I need hardly emphasise how heartily glad I am at your firm attitude in the Infallibility question. Very painful is it to me, on the other hand, that Abbé Haneberg has submitted in spite of his convictions. I daresay he has done it out of ‘humility,’ In my opinion, it is a very perverted humility when a person officially gives way and bears outwardly a different opinion from that he has in his heart.“I rejoice that I have not been disappointed in you. I have always said that you are my Bossuet; he, on the other hand, is my Fénélon.... I am proud of you, true rock of the Church! With assurances, my dear Mr Dean, of my continued good-will, I remain, with my kindest regards,“Your greatly attached King,“Ludwig.”
“My dear Dean and Councillor of State,Dr von Döllinger,
“I cannot let your birthday to-day go by without sending you my best and most affectionate congratulations—giving you a sign of my particular vigilance. My country and myself are proud of being able to call you ours. And I am glad to dare believe that you, as the ornament of science, and in your tried attachment to the Throne, may yet for long, as hitherto,continue your activity for the good of the State and Church.
“I need hardly emphasise how heartily glad I am at your firm attitude in the Infallibility question. Very painful is it to me, on the other hand, that Abbé Haneberg has submitted in spite of his convictions. I daresay he has done it out of ‘humility,’ In my opinion, it is a very perverted humility when a person officially gives way and bears outwardly a different opinion from that he has in his heart.
“I rejoice that I have not been disappointed in you. I have always said that you are my Bossuet; he, on the other hand, is my Fénélon.... I am proud of you, true rock of the Church! With assurances, my dear Mr Dean, of my continued good-will, I remain, with my kindest regards,
“Your greatly attached King,
“Ludwig.”
The King later was in the habit of asking Döllinger for information regarding religious works, and several times sent messengers to him to require his explanation of certain passages.
Johannes von Lutz, the son of a village schoolmaster, but early well known as a prominent lawyer, had become Prince Hohenlohe’s successor as Premier. He also was persecuted by the Catholic Church party. Ludwig ennobled him, creating him a baron, and always protectedhim. When the majority of the Parliament opposed the Government in 1883, he sent him the following characteristic autograph letter:—
“My dear Minister von Lutz,“I have with regret followed the obstructions which have been placed, during the last few months, in the way of my Ministers, whose labours, as I know, are only dictated by their solicitude for the welfare of their country. I feel myself called upon to express to you that it is my firm expectation that you and your colleagues, who have been summoned by me to be the counsellors of the Crown, will hold out firmly in the future, and with all your strength champion my rights.“With particular regard to the Church’s relation to the State, I have ever, and with the most affectionate conviction, yielded the Church my protection, and I shall never cease to protect the religious necessities of my people, which I consider as the foundation of order.“But I am equally decided that my Government now and in the future must resist all attempts to undermine the undoubted rights of the State, which will bring State and Church into a fatal position.“While giving repeated expression herewith of this my will, I assure you and your colleagues of my warm recognition of your faithful resistance under difficult circumstances.”
“My dear Minister von Lutz,
“I have with regret followed the obstructions which have been placed, during the last few months, in the way of my Ministers, whose labours, as I know, are only dictated by their solicitude for the welfare of their country. I feel myself called upon to express to you that it is my firm expectation that you and your colleagues, who have been summoned by me to be the counsellors of the Crown, will hold out firmly in the future, and with all your strength champion my rights.
“With particular regard to the Church’s relation to the State, I have ever, and with the most affectionate conviction, yielded the Church my protection, and I shall never cease to protect the religious necessities of my people, which I consider as the foundation of order.
“But I am equally decided that my Government now and in the future must resist all attempts to undermine the undoubted rights of the State, which will bring State and Church into a fatal position.
“While giving repeated expression herewith of this my will, I assure you and your colleagues of my warm recognition of your faithful resistance under difficult circumstances.”
1Ludwig’s trusted Minister, Prince Hohenlohe, also regarded it as a duty to step in against the dogma of Papal Infallibility, inviting in a circular all the German Governments to protest against it. They did not, however, agree to his proposal.↑
1Ludwig’s trusted Minister, Prince Hohenlohe, also regarded it as a duty to step in against the dogma of Papal Infallibility, inviting in a circular all the German Governments to protest against it. They did not, however, agree to his proposal.↑